John Myles Henry, more generally
known as Myles, was born in 1921, the son of a wealthy businessman, Arthur
Henry (Solomon) Esq., of 'Bridgeland', Sussex and his wife Margaret. Myles had
a privileged upbringing, his parents, of Jewish denomination, employed a
butler, a cook and various other domestic servants to run 'Bridgelands', their
fine Tudor country house.

He was educated at Stowe Public
School, where his Head Master, Mr John Fergusson held him in high regard,
personally electing him Prefect, then later Head of House. From Stowe, Myles
was accepted into Queen's College, Cambridge, from where he graduated in 1939.
On hearing Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain's declaration of war against
Hitler's Nazi Germany, young Myles was one of the first to volunteer for
service with his County Regiment. He was straightway selected for officer
training and was granted an emergency commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd
Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment, on the 22nd January 1941.

2nd Royal Sussex in North Africa
and PAI Force

With his single, burnished pip on
his shoulder, 2nd Lieutenant Myles Henry was placed in command of a Bren-Gun
Carrier Platoon. The 2nd Royal Sussex, a lorried, Infantry Battalion, formed
part of a Brigade in the 44th (Home Counties) Division, which after strenuous
training, embarked, in May 1942 for service with General Montgomery's 8th Army
in North Africa.

Myles was soon to see plenty of
action, being engaged in the battles of Alam Haifa and Ruwesat Ridge at the
end of August and in October, the eleven-day long battle for El Alemein, which
finished in Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's overstretched advance being ground
to a staggering halt and victory for the 8th Army.

But Myles's victory celebrations
were short-lived. A few weeks later, he was laid low with a rare virus,
resulting in him being hospitalised for several months. On recovery, he
rejoined his battalion in March 1943; in time to join them in their move
through Iraq, and Jordan to take up their new station in Palestine with 'PAI
Force'

Formation of 10th Battalion, The
Parachute Regiment

As early as January 1943, the 2nd
Royal Sussex, which had already distinguished itself, in North Africa was
scheduled for conversion into a parachute battalion. This was initially to be
known as "S" Battalion (presumably 'S' standing for Sussex) but
later that same month, the War Office changed its mind and ruled that 2nd
Royal Sussex was not to be transferred 'en bloc' to the Army Air Corps as
previously directed. As a consequence of the new ruling, the battalion was to
remain and be strengthened by personnel from the previously disbanded 4th and
5th Battalions of the same regiment.

But the two-hundred officers and
men, including Myles Henry, his friend Lionel
Queripel and three other officers of the 2nd Royal Sussex, who had
volunteered and had already participated in parachute training, were accepted
into the Army Air Corps. As such, they formed the nucleus of the newly formed
10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, then undergoing training at Kabrit.
This new battalion was to be commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel K.B.I. Smyth (South Wales Borderers) and was to form part of the
equally newly formed, 4th Parachute Brigade.

For some time, correspondence was
carried out with the War Office in an effort to retain the "S" for
Sussex and to make the title, 10th (S) Battalion, but without success.

September 1943 -Taranto, Italy

In July 1943, Benito Mussolini, the
fascist dictator of Italy resigned but the Germans however had no intention of
surrendering Italy. So in September 1943, after intensive training at Kabrit
and Ramat David near Nazareth, the 10th Parachute Regiment were mobilised for
their first taste of action as an airborne fighting unit - destination
Taranto, Italy.

Much to its chagrin however, the
fledgling 10th Para, after many months of arduous airborne training, found
that in the absence of sufficient transport aircraft, it was, as part of 4th
Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division, to be utilised instead as a
sea-borne element and as such, embarked aboard various Royal Naval cruisers at
the port of Bizerta. (The first instance in fact of Parachute troops acting as
Marine Commandos)

'B' Company under the command of Captain
Peter Warr, travelled separately from the main body aboard a converted
English Cross-Channel Packet the 'Prince Albert'. At that time Peter Lawson
was 'B' Company Second-in-Command and Myles Henry, Mike Bellow and Nick Hammer
were the Platoon Commanders.

Meanwhile, Major-General Hopkinson
commanding 1st Airborne Division was ordered to occupy the port of Taranto and
hold it against all attacks. The 4th Parachute Brigade's immediate task was to
form a bridgehead against any possible German attack whilst the remainder of
the Division was put ashore. After a defensive perimeter had been established
around Taranto by the 1st Parachute Brigade, the 2nd and 4th Parachute
Brigades were despatched in a relentless pursuit of the retreating Germans.

The immediate enemy was the elite
German 1st Parachute Division, which had previously fought so grimly against
the British 1st Parachute Brigade in North Africa. The German Division had
suffered a large number of casualties in the battle for Sicily and as yet had
not been brought up to full strength. Nevertheless it was capable, as always,
of putting up a dogged rearguard defence even though they lacked artillery
support. The Germans fought with great determination in the ensuing battle for
Castellaneta, which finally fell to the British Airborne forces on the 12th
September.

Gioia del Colle - Italy

The next objective for the 4th
Parachute Brigade, was the capture of Gioia del Colle and its airfield - the
importance of which was fast increasing as it was urgently required as a
fighter base to cover the Salerno landings.

The Brigadier ordered a fighting
patrol to push forward and determine if possible, the strength of the German
defensive positions at Gioia del Colle. 'B' Company, 10th Para, which included
Myles Henry, was selected and at 1930 hours on 15th September, 'B' Company
left the Battalion area to drive to Gioia, a point three miles to the east.

After a compass march in pitch
darkness, the patrol moved into position on the outskirts of Gioia del Colle
at dawn, taking the German sentries completely by surprise. But the surprise
was short-lived and there then ensued a fierce five-hour pitched battle with
the now alerted German Paratroopers. Heavily outnumbered and taking heavy
casualties, Myles Henry and his men were eventually forced into a fighting
withdrawal. Having successfully extricated themselves from a very hot
situation the patrol made its way back to Battalion H.Q. by midday on the 16th
September, having inflicted numerous casualties on the enemy and gained much
useful information. But the cost had been high; the total casualties sustained
by the patrol were five other ranks killed and Myles Henry and five other
ranks wounded. Two officers and seven other ranks were reported missing.

Dismayed by the aggressive nature
of the patrol, the Germans, despite superior numbers, withdrew on the night of
16/17th September. On the 18th September the front line offensive was taken
over by the 1st Air-landing Brigade and 4th Parachute Brigade withdrew to
Taranto for a brief respite.

On the 29th October 1943, it was
decided that the 1st Airborne Division should be withdrawn from Italy and on
24th November, the 10th Battalion embarked aboard H.M.S. Staffordshire bound
for the U.K.

Operation 'Market Garden' Field
Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 'first and only defeat in the war'

Following much training and large
scale exercises, the 10th Battalion were held in readiness to support the
planned landings in Normandy scheduled for 6th June but were not called upon
to participate. In the hectic days following the successful Normandy landings,
no less than sixteen operations were planned for the 1st Airborne Division,
all of which were subsequently cancelled for one reason or another.

At the beginning of September, an
audacious operation code-name 'Market' was devised involving three Airborne
Divisions, the object of which was to secure the Rhine bridges from Wesel to
Arnhem ahead of the fast advancing XXX Corps of the Allied forces.

In simple outline the plan of the
21st Army Group Commander, Field Marshal Montgomery, was to unroll an airborne
carpet from Eindhoven to Arnhem. With this one bold stroke he expected the
three airborne divisions of the 1st Allied Airborne Army to capture and hold
the bridges over the five major water obstacles spanning the 100-mile route
from the Dutch frontier to the Rhine. The first four lesser crossings, were
the responsibility of the two American divisions whilst the most distant and
difficult task - the capture of the bridge at Arnhem - was given to the
British 1st Airborne Division. As soon as all the crossings and connecting
roads were in allied hands, the British 2nd Army, led by XXX Corps were to
push forward to the Zuider Zee and effectively seal off the German forces in
Western Holland.

But the plan was flawed from the
start. Unfortunately there were just not enough aircraft to transport the
three divisions in one air-lift. In the event, four days' flying were required
which resulted in three lifts for the 1st Airborne Division. This meant that
that fifty percent of the troops dropped in the first lift were required to
hold the dropping zones secure for troops in the next drop - thereby halving
the number of assault troops able to push on to their objective - the bridge
at Arnhem. A further serious disadvantage was the necessity of selecting
dropping and landing zones some seven miles away from the bridge due to the
supposed presence of heavy flak batteries in the vicinity of Arnhem and
Deelen. This above all was to prove a severe loss of time, of effort and of
lives, in the subsequent struggle to reach the bridge.

17th September 1944 - Arnhem

The 1st Airborne Division were also
unfortunate in the unforeseen fact that the eminent German Field Marshal,
Walter Model was at the time of the initial landings, taking lunch at the
Tafelberg Hotel, in Oosterbeek, right in the middle of the battle area. By his
personal vigorous intervention, he immediately mobilised the defence of Arnhem
and its bridge-head and within two hours of the landings, a battle group of
the 9th S.S. Panzer Division was on its way to attack the British troops then
moving eastwards from the Dropping Zone.

On Sunday the 17th September 1944,
the 1st Parachute and most of the 1st Air-landing Brigade Groups, some 5,700
men in all, were landed in the allotted Dropping Zones. The Parachute
Brigade's task was to quickly advance to the Arnhem bridgehead and the
glider-borne troops of the Air-landing Brigade were to hold the dropping zones
for the later landings.

On Monday the 18th, after a
five-hour delay because of bad weather, 10th Para as part of the 4th Parachute
Brigade, successfully landed, albeit in scattered groups, in the battle zone
west of Oosterbeek and were immediately engaged in a fierce battle.

Captain Henry, now acting as the
Battalion Intelligence Officer had flown in aircraft 'Chalk One' with Lieutenant-Colonel
Smyth and Battalion H.Q. and despite coming under heavy fire as they
parachuted to the ground, all landed safely. After fighting their way off the
Dropping Zone, they made their way to the Battalion R.V. where at 19.30 hours,
those that had managed to reach the R.V. moved off towards Arnhem under a
heavy fire from the now reinforced German SS Panzer Grenadier Unit, leaving
the woods behind them ablaze.

When the 10th Battalion had
continued their advance at 0300 hours on the 19th, they had been at Arnhem for
twelve hours. Already the battalion was down to 70% strength with two officers
having been killed and four others missing. As the troops of 4th Parachute
Brigade moved forward along the main Arnhem - Ede road, they ran into heavy
fire, which abruptly brought their advance to a halt. The various companies of
the battalion deployed into the woods on either side of the road, with the
156th Para. manning the front between the road and the railway line and
glider-borne 7th King's Own Scottish Borderers holding the rear.

German offensive fire from
artillery, mortars and Spandau machine guns, together with air attacks by
Dornier aircraft, increased during the morning. In the Battalion Headquarters
area, with Captain Henry noticeably to the fore, an involved battle ensued
where the paratroopers, armed only with light weapons, engaged several German
self-propelled guns, a Mk III tank and three German troop carriers. The German
self-propelled guns, whose shells were bursting at tree-top level inflicted
severe casualties.

By midday, the remnants of the 10th
Battalion and 'A' Company, 7th K.O.S.B. were near the pumping station at La
Cabine. To the south, 156th Para and the other companies of 7th K.O.S.B. were
in the wooded area surrounding Johanna Hoeve. The plan was for 156th Para to
capture the high ground at Koeple, which dominated the western approaches to
Arnhem, while the 10th Battalion established a firm base on the Arnhem - Ede
road 1,000 yards to the north-east of Johanne Hoeve. Despite utmost
difficulties, the Brigade strived to fulfil its task of forming a perimeter
defence north of Arnhem.

After five hours of desperate
fighting in the woods around the pumping station, it was realised that it was
impossible to continue on their original axis. So later in the afternoon, the
Brigade Commander, Brigadier Hackett, ordered
the disengagement and withdrawal of the 10th and 156th Parachute Battalions to
the south of the railway and to attempt to renew the advance along the Heelsum
- Arnhem road. It was during this withdrawal on Tuesday afternoon that the
10th Battalion suffered a great number of casualties.

Withdrawal of 10th Battalion,
The Parachute Regiment and the Death of Captain Henry

When the orders to withdraw were
received by wireless, Captain Hammer, the Adjutant of 10th Para., shouted
across to his Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel
Smyth .... "We can't withdraw from here - the Jerries are all
around us." It was a recognised basic principle taught to infantrymen
that you never disengaged while under attack.

Barely able to make himself heard
with the din of battle raging around them, Colonel Smyth's response was short
and terse, "We will do as we are bloody well told - we've got our
orders - let's get going!"

Despite his misgivings, Captain
Hammer immediately sent off runners to the various Company Commanders with
orders to withdraw; the Adjutant's worst fears were soon to be realised.

As the Companies withdrew over open
ground towards the railway, they came under a heavy cross fire from German
troops dug into strong, commanding positions on the edge of the woods. The
'withdrawal', which had coincided with the landing of the third glider lift of
the Polish Air Landing element, was at first under control but when more
German infantry supported by tanks appeared on the edge of the wood behind
them, the Paratroopers, mostly on foot with only a few jeeps - began to rush.
What followed next can best be described from two first-hand accounts.

Captain Hammer's Account

Captain Hammer, Adjutant of 10th
Battalion, Parachute Regiment recalls the scene, ...."It was not far
off panic stations when the Germans came in behind us. I was in the Battalion
H.Q. jeep, in the middle of an extended line of men; they were not running but
going at a fast walk. There was much fire from the northern edge and it caused
many casualties. The gliders were coming in from the south but it was a large
piece of ground and there was no need to get out of their way. I saw a German
wheeled vehicle come out of the trees, right up to one of the gliders and it
fired straight into the glider; it all looked pretty horrific.

Captain Myles Henry, the
Intelligence Officer, was walking next to me when he was hit in the back by
such a heavy burst that bits of his haversack were coming out of his front. I
wanted to put his body in the jeep but the C.O. said we had to leave him."

Company Sergeant Major
Grainger's Account

C.S.M. Grainger who was with D
Company, covering the battalion's withdrawal to the south-west, also describes
the scene, ...."At this moment L/Cpl. Horton (my clerk) was wounded in
the kneecap and as I was applying the first field dressing he was wounded
again, this time in the thigh. He was in great pain. The general position then
became untenable and we had to clear. It was decided to leave Horton but not
liking to leave him to the mercy of the Germans, Captain Henry and I carried
him over to the Glider L.Z. We had proceeded very slowly and we had only
travelled approximately fifty yards when we were all three shot. Captain Henry
was knocked about fifteen yards. Horton fell where he was and I went about
seven yards - and when I found I was not killed - I went to Captain Henry. I
saw that he was in a very bad state. Horton had been wounded for the third
time and was in a very bad way too. So I went to find the Battalion and get
some help."

Miraculously, despite the
seriousness of his wounds, L/Cpl. Horton later recovered under the care of the
German doctors in a P.O.W. Camp.

Tragically, young Myles Henry died
where he lay - he was just twenty-three years of age.

Captain Queripel awarded the
Victoria Cross

Captain
L.E. Queripel, commanding 'A' Company, a close friend of Myles Henry's
from their days in the 2nd Sussex Regiment, witnessed his friend's fate but
was powerless too intervene. Seeing his comrades falling fast under the
murderous German cross-fire, Captain Queripel took up a position in a ditch
under the cover of a finger of woodland where his small force dug in. He was
ordered to hold his position at all costs in order to give covering fire to
the retreating men of the Battalion. This he and his party did with great
gallantry all evening until overwhelmed next morning. Captain Queripel,
wounded in both arms, decided that it was impossible to hold the position
longer and ordered his men to withdraw.

In the final moments he ordered the
protesting survivors away to join the rest of the battalion and was last seen
with an automatic pistol in one hand and some grenades in the other, covering
their escape. This was the last occasion on which he was seen. The gallantry
of the brave Captain Queripel was later recognised with award of a posthumous
Victoria Cross

Final Defeat and Withdrawal

The futile battle raged on for
another five days, the perimeter becoming smaller and smaller and the
casualties mounting daily. On Sunday the 24th September, Field Marshal
Montgomery gave the order for the withdrawal of the 1st Airborne Division
which was partially accomplished over the next few days by amphibious craft
crossing and re-crossing the Rhine at night and bringing a substantial number
of the airborne troops across to safety.

Statistically, it is probable that
the 4th Parachute Brigade's casualties in killed and wounded were even higher
than those of the 1st Parachute Brigade. As a consequence, the 4th Parachute
Brigade was disbanded and never reformed.

Captain L.E. Queripel A Company
(Awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously)

Lieut P.W. Mackey A Company

Lieut. L.H. Kiaer A Company

Lieut. W.D. Burgess A Company

Captain C.M. Horsfall D Company

Lieut. J. Howard D. Company

Lieut. P.A. Saunders D Company

Lieut. H.C. Radcliff Support
Company, M.M.G. Officer

Lieut. R.G. Dodd Support Company,
3inch Mortar Platoon Officer

Captain John Myles Henry was
originally buried on the battlefield close by Johanna Hoeve Farm but now lies
with his comrades in the Oosterbeek Military Cemetery, Holland.

Post Script

Myles Henry married his fiancée,
Miss Pamela Morris on the 27th December 1943. They were in fact married twice,
in view of their different religious denominations. On the 29th September
1944, Mrs Pamela Henry received a telegram informing her of her husband's
death. The shock of the news brought about the premature birth of their child
that she was carrying. The child, a daughter, although very poorly happily
survived.

Mrs Henry remarried and later moved
to New Zealand where in her eighties, she published her autobiography, which
essentially centres on the poignant love story of two young people during
wartime.

A further irony was that Myles
Henry, a passionate advocate for a Jewish homeland in Palestine had, with some
forethought and in anticipation of a rush for jobs after the war, made
application to the Colonial Office in the summer of 1944, to be considered for
a position in that area. To the delight of both himself and his wife, he was
informed that his application had been accepted and that his release might be
requested from the army, in order for him to join the administration in
Palestine. Regretfully, fate, as we have seen, was to intervene.

Reference

The biographical details and
portrait photograph of Captain Henry were extracted from the book 'I've Had My
Dance', a poignant autobiography written by his widow (nee) Pamela Morris
whilst in her eighties. The book was published in 1996 by Erica Press, New
Zealand - ISBN0-908990-41-3

The Tenth record of the 10th
Battalion, The Parachute Regiment by R. Brammell 1965